In 1947 at 6 years of age, Macfarlane, the son of a tea planter in Assam, came to England and the difference between Third World India and the homeland hit him hard. He remembers, From the cosy, warm outpost, I arrived in the depths of one of the coldest winters. Britain was more efficient but seemed to have lost some of the emotion and warmth of the place I had come from. Ever since then, I have wanted to know how these two worlds could have diverged so. The difference he guessed was down to industrialisation, which brought him round to the question; how did the Industrial Revolution come about?
For historians there was one interesting factor around the mid-18th century that required explanation. Between about 1650-1740, the population was static, but then there was a burst in population. Macfarlane says The infant mortality rate halved in the space of 20 years, and this happened in both rural areas and cities, and across all classes. Four possible causes have been suggested; was there a sudden change in the viruses and bacteria around? -unlikely. Was there a revolution in medical science?- this was a century before Listers revolution. Was there a change in environmental conditions? - there were improvements in agriculture that wiped out malaria, but these were small gains and sanitation did not become wide spreads until the 19th century. The only option left is food, however the height and weight statistics show a decline at this time, so food actually got worse and efforts to explain the sudden reduction in child deaths appeared to draw a blank.
【雅思A类考试阅读1】相关文章:
最新
2016-03-03
2016-03-03
2016-03-03
2016-03-03
2016-03-03
2016-03-03